The subject variety was discovered in 1989 growing in a bed of 15,000 containerized Berberis thungbergii Crimson Pygmy at the Leo Gentry Wholesale Nursery in Gresham, Oreg. The plants in this bed were propagated from vegetative cuttings taken from several thousand mature Crimson Pygmy plants growing at the nursery. All of the plants growing in this bed were from cuttings taken from Crimson Pygmy plants.
The new variety is distinguishable from other varieties of barberry due to the rich blush burgundy color of its leaves, which turn to a reddish-black satin patina as they mature. The variety also exhibits more resistance to sunburn and scald than other red-leaved varieties of barberry. Plants of the new variety have been asexually reproduced at Gresham, Oreg. using soft-wood cuttings. The characteristics of the new variety have been found to remain true when asexually reproduced, through multiple generations over a four-year period.